PARTNERS ’ PERSPECTIVE
Part of the Lynchpin Media team , Manda Banda has more than 20 years of experience working for channel publications . He shares the knowledge he has learnt during that time in this monthly column for Intelligent Tech Channels .
The data centre modernisation prospect
Manda Banda , Managing Editor , Intelligent Tech Channels
Manda Banda is also Lynchpin Media ’ s Managing Editor of Intelligent CIO Middle East and Intelligent CIO Africa magazines .
The data centre market is evolving rapidly in the Middle East and Africa ( MEA ) as business and Digital Transformation take hold . The effect of this progression is that opportunities are opening up for resellers that are looking for prospects in the data centre space as organisations look to modernise their data centre infrastructure .
The rapid and exponential growth in the amount of data consumed by various businesses across all sectors , individuals and organisations has resulted in the rise in the demand for data storage . With increasing business needs , enterprises are looking to expand on their data storage capacity . Moreover , many large organisations such as Facebook , Google , Apple , Microsoft , Amazon , Oracle and large government agencies , are consolidating the traditional data centres into gigantic mega data centre .
To minimise the cost associated with data centre operations , and to maximise profits , enterprise organisations are coming up with more scalable and efficient solutions which can serve the enormously increasing demand for data storage . This surging demand for data storage is nurturing the market for data centre modernisation worldwide . This also , presents huge opportunities for numerous vendors and their channel ecosystems serving the data centre segment .
In the MEA geography , transformed IT organisations are placing strategic bets on a broad array of modern technologies , from high-performance , easy-to-scale storage systems , through pre-packaged , easy-tointegrate converged and hyper-converged infrastructure ( HCI ), to flexible , softwaredefined architectures .
In the MEA geography , transformed IT organisations are placing strategic bets on a broad array of modern technologies .
For solution providers and systems integrators , the broadening of data centre solutions available in the market today means they can capitalise on the prospects that are emerging . However , to be able to competently help your clients in their quest to modernise their data centre , your business will require to have expertise and understanding on how businesses can realise long-term cost savings on operations and maintenance of data centre infrastructure .
If you are a reseller , systems integrator or solution provider specialising in the data centre solutions space , now is the right time to help and guide your clients on how to modernise their data centre in order for them to be able to embrace new cloud technologies and accelerate their Digital Transformation .
Clearly , the era of what I would like to call “ datafication ” in which information management and data analytics drive business competitiveness is the biggest driver for businesses across MEA wanting to modernise their data centre . Modernisation does not only give organisations the agility and flexibility to respond to changing market dynamics but also the responsiveness to change in a timely manner .
According to recent VMware research , data centre modernisation ranks as the top IT investment by more than half of Middle East organisations , nearly double the rate of organisations across the wider Europe , Middle East , and Africa ( EMEA ) region . This is massive for those channel partners in the Middle East and simply ignoring that this is happening is not good enough .
Given the positive outlook in this sector , I believe it is important for resellers to understand that modernising data centre infrastructure should not be done as a standalone , once off project . It is crucial that when you start engaging with your customers on data centre modernisation , you encourage them to implement such a project in line with Digital Transformation and digital skills development . The biggest business benefit will come from combining four transformative technologies namely cloud , mobility , Internet of Things ( IoT ) and Artificial Intelligence ( AI ).
With some technologies having had the most profound impact on the progression of the data centre market in the MEA region , as a reseller you must make the right decisions on which solutions best suit the clients you serve .
For example , as a component technology , flash has become ubiquitous in the modern data centre and is a dominant vessel for storing data . Flash significantly reduces the floor space , power consumption and cooling
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